Where can the Devils find a D for F swap?

207 posts in this topic

It's a long summer - exceptionally long this year with the lockout impending - and I was going to post this in two parts, but I figured if I did, people would quickly find the other teams I was talking about.

Okay, so we can all see that the Devils have 8 defensemen signed, almost all of which deserve to play regularly in the NHL. Beyond that, they have prospects like Alex Urbom and Eric Gelinas who, while they may not be NHL-ready, they can probably fill in capably for some games. In addition, the forward lines right now look like this:

?-Zajac-Kovalchuk

Henrique-Elias-Zubrus

?-Josefson-Clarkson

Carter-Gionta-Bernier

Figure Tedenby will get his shot to go back on the 3rd line and that the Devils may be entertaining delusions of using Barch or Janssen on the 4th line and moving someone else up higher. Whatever the case, it still looks like this team could use a forward. So who out there needs a defenseman and has a possible trade available?

1. Edmonton

Edmonton may be dumb enough to think they’ve got enough defensemen, but they clearly do not. Furthermore, they’ve got a ton of forwards. Their defense is currently something like this:

N. Schultz-Petry

Smid-J. Schultz

Whitney-Potter

Peckham-Sutton

There’s not a top pairing guy in the mix or even anything resembling it, and the forwards won’t be able to cover that up all year. Trouble is, they’ve got too many defensemen signed as it stands.

Forwards:

Smyth-Horcoff-Hemsky

Hall-Nugent-Hopkins-Eberle

Yakupov-Belanger-Gagner

Jones-Lander-Petrell

Possible Targets: A. Hemsky, M. Paajarvi

I think Greene and a low-ish prospect could fetch Hemsky, if the Oilers were so inclined to deal him. Still, Magnus Paajarvi doesn't even have a spot on the team even if someone above him were dealt - I'd deal Greene and Urbom for him and feel pretty happy about it. His skills might never translate to the NHL, but he's not getting a good chance in that system as it stands now, and he'd immediately become one of the Devils' best young players.

2. Calgary

Calgary currently has a weirdly assembled roster with Tanguay, Hudler, Cammalleri and Glencross at LW, with Cervenka, Stajan, Backlund, and Horak as possible centers. Even if they move one of their LW over to center, it still feels like they’ve got too many LWs - RWs are Iginla, Stempniak, Comeau, and Jones. And I haven't even mentioned Sven Baertschi, who tore up the WHL to the tune of 2 points a game - the Flames surely have to consider a place in the NHL for him.

Trouble is, Calgary’s defense looks like this:

Bouwmeester-Wideman

Giordano-Butler

Brodie-Sarich

Babchuk-Smith

If they deal Bouwmeester for a center, things open up, but while Butler was bad this year, I don’t see them improving on that necessarily. Still, they are void of defensive prospects, and maybe they would consider Greene and Urbom for Cammalleri and Babchuk, where NJ would buy out Babchuk. Still, that would need to happen awfully soon, and it’s hard to imagine Babchuk waiving his NTC to be bought out.

3. St. Louis

St. Louis is crazy deep at forward right now. Here’s their forward lineup:

Perron-McDonald-Oshie

Steen-Backes-Stewart

Berglund-Sobotka-Langenbrunner

Reaves-Nichol-D’Agostini

And I haven’t mentioned top prospects Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko - players who might need places in the NHL. I therefore think that people like Patrik Berglund and Chris Stewart could be on the block - both guys are only signed for one more year.

Their defense, not so deep:

Jackman-Polak

?-Pietrangelo

Russell-Shattenkirk

Either Greene or Tallinder would make a perfect pair for Pietrangelo. I doubt they could pry Chris Stewart, but maybe Patrik Berglund? Berglund turned 24 and has not taken that extra step yet - I think Greene for Berglund+3rd would be a fair deal.

4. Toronto

Toronto has too many forwards right now, here’s their forward list:

Van Riemsdyk-Grabovski-Kulemin

Lupul-Bozak-Kessel

MacArthur-Connolly-Lombardi

McClement-Steckel-Frattin

Toronto has at least one too many forwards, possibly two too many, as Nazem Kadri is still being left off this list. Their defense:

Gunnarsson-Phaneuf

Gardiner-Franson

Liles-Komisarek

Yuck. Komisarek probably gets amnestied. It's ugly - Franson is a soft-minutes player. Me, I'd want Nikolai Kulemin or maybe Clarke MacArthur, and I think Tallinder would be enough to get MacArthur, Greene for Kulemin would also be a fair-ish deal.

5. Detroit (!)

Astoundingly Detroit is on this list. Defense now:

Kronwall-White

Quincey-Ericsson

Kindl-Smith

Eep. They think much higher of Jonathan Ericsson than I do, but I think he's not very good. Trouble is, they can't really spare any forwards of note either - their forward lineup:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Samuelsson

Filppula-Zetterberg-Cleary

Abdelkader-Helm-Tootoo

Miller-Nyquist-Eaves

Rumor is that Todd Bertuzzi may retire, so I won't include him on this list. New Jersey would have to deal for some prospects instead of NHL players - not sure they'd be willing to do that.

6. New York Islanders

The Islanders managed a trade for a defenseman, so they may no longer need one. Except for the fact that he might not want to play on Long Island anymore - if he manages to get himself traded back to Anaheim, it will be interesting to see what the Islanders do. They’ll be desperate for defensive help.

Streit-Hamonic

Visnovsky-McDonald

Carkner-?

Okay, so they still need a defenseman even if Visnovsky stays. Still, not sure if Greene or Tallinder is interesting to them. Their forward situation looks like this:

Moulson-Tavares-Okposo

Grabner-Nielsen-Boyes

Martin-Reasoner-Bailey

Niederreiter-Cizikas-?

So a lot depends on whether they think Ryan Strome is NHL ready. Or whether they don't care if he’s NHL ready and jam him into the NHL anyway like with Nino Niederreiter and a lesser extent Josh Bailey. Brock Nelson may also get a shot at the NHL.

7. Nashville

If Weber leaves, we have to imagine they use some of the picks to take on a defenseman from Philadelphia, who is in a similar-ish predicament to us. Still, they’re in quite a fix without both guys:

?-?

Josi-Klein

Gill-Ellis

Klein and Josi were horrible last year - Nashville would probably sign a guy like Rozsival, and trade for multiple people. The problem is, they don’t quite have the forward depth to make this happen:

Erat-Legwand-Hornqvist

S. Kostitsyn-Fisher-Smith

Bourque-Gaustad-Halischuk

McGrattan-Spaling-Yip

I didn’t put Colin Wilson here - he’s an intriguing possibility. Regardless, I think Nashville will use its defensive prospects to get a better defense - I don’t think the Devils and Nashville are a fit, as Nashville also is weak at forward and is unlikely to move a forward to get a defenseman.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Hmmm. I like St. Louis and Edmonton a lot as partners. The tricky thing, of course, is gauging value. I think Stewarts's and MPS's value will be higher than you think, even though they didn't meet expectations. However, I still think Stewart can rebound to 25-30 goal form. MPS, I'm not as confident about but he certainly has the potential. If we could package Greene/Tallinder for Stewart/Pajaarvi and a second, I do it

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I really like St. Louis as a trade partner. They have a system similar to ours and their players would similarly thrive here. I really liked what I saw from them last year and I think they have what we'd want, and vice versa..

Link to post

Share on other sites

Nice post Tri. St. Louis was in the running for Matt Carle, but wouldn't go 6 yrs. TB did do it. They are in dire need of a LH d-man. Edmonton can always use a veteran D-man. I'd love for us to get a forward that could play in top nine fw's. Stewart only signed for 1 year. He's working with 4 "specialists" to get him back to snuff.(they were dicussing this on XM this morning. They want a premier D-man to compliment Pieterangelo, so they would be the new Suter/Weber tandem in thr nhl.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Guest BelieveinBrodeur

Considering St Louis is one of the best teams and deepest right now we could deal with them? Berglund was "Our" Player before, he's young and would bring good depth like Sykora. If we re-signed Sykora and got Berglund I think we would be fine. But I can only wish. Don't forget the whole"Ryan because he's a Jersey boy possibility" He can put up the same point wise as Zach but I doubt Lou would go for him since he is on alot of teams radar

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

agreed but Tedenby is a fail and theirs always some overlap within an org.

Omark will come cheap anyway and he'll get his chance in nj

Urbom for Omark strait up...let Tedenby go back to Sweden

obviously its most likely not going to happen

Yikes, the kid's only 22, give him a break.. You'd make a terrible scout and development coach, no offense haha.. There's really no reason Tedenby can't come back a better more equipped and bulky player in October. Crazier things have happened, LIKE CLARKSON'S 30-GOAL SEASON THIS YEAR, after a 2011-2012 season in which many thought he was no-talent dead-weight.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Yikes, the kid's only 22, give him a break.. You'd make a terrible scout and development coach, no offense haha.. There's really no reason Tedenby can't come back a better more equipped and bulky player in October. Crazier things have happened, LIKE CLARKSON'S 30-GOAL SEASON THIS YEAR, after a 2011-2012 season in which many thought he was no-talent dead-weight.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I remember Brian Gionta's name coming up in a previous thread. Is he still Montreal's captain?

He is, and I looked at Montreal and couldn't see the trade there. They just don't have enough forwards to cover for Gionta's loss IMO. Could easily be wrong, but right now that's how it looks to me.

Yikes, the kid's only 22, give him a break.. You'd make a terrible scout and development coach, no offense haha.. There's really no reason Tedenby can't come back a better more equipped and bulky player in October. Crazier things have happened, LIKE CLARKSON'S 30-GOAL SEASON THIS YEAR, after a 2011-2012 season in which many thought he was no-talent dead-weight.

Clarkson's shot rate was always high - his goal rate wasn't. Tedenby's problem is that he's not getting enough shots on goal, even at the AHL level. I'm not counting him out at all - he does have skills that other players simply don't and never will have - but he's got to improve by a lot.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Tedenby needs to play with better players to make an honest assessment of him. His size is going to be an issue, though unless they can become a better passing team to utilize his speed. Skill level is undeniable and he can score in all ways, he's not a guy that has to drive the net to score. The only good look he got was with Henrique and Clarkson and that didn't last long, obviously with Henrique's promotion.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Tedenby needs to play with better players to make an honest assessment of him. His size is going to be an issue, though unless they can become a better passing team to utilize his speed. Skill level is undeniable and he can score in all ways, he's not a guy that has to drive the net to score. The only good look he got was with Henrique and Clarkson and that didn't last long, obviously with Henrique's promotion.

I think he has to drive the net to score because his shot is, at least right now, not NHL quality.